Tag: Innovation

The Power of Q: Creative Geniuses

Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

Anton Ego, in Pixar’s Ratatouille

It is becoming more and more evident that group creativity is becoming more and more necessary.

We now live in a world of very complex and global challenges. Many of the most important and pressing issues exceed the capacity and capability of one individual.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/the-intelligent-person

As a result, it is clear that in order to find solutions, collaboration with other people has become increasingly necessary.

Concepts of Intelligence

Most of us grew up with a concept of intelligence based on the traditional IQ test. The IQ test was originated by Alfred Binet (1857-1911) to measure, objectively, comprehension, reasoning and judgement.

Alfred Binet

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Binet

Alfred Binet was motivated by a powerful enthusiasm for the emerging discipline of psychology and a desire to overcome the cultural and class prejudices of the late nineteenth-century France in the assessment of children’s academic potential.

The Past vs. The Present

The Past

Research indicates that many studies in different fields were done by single individuals who made significant strides and produced inventions, works of art, formulas, and other various pursuits.

A great example of a man that history has crowned as one of the “Great Renaissance Men” was Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, military engineer and draftsman — the epitome of a true Renaissance man. He is famously known for paintings like “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa,” and for inventions like a flying machine.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/the-intelligent-person

Gifted with a curious mind and a brilliant intellect, Leonardo da Vinci studied the laws of science and nature, which greatly informed his work. His drawings, paintings and other works have influenced countless artists and engineers over the centuries. 

Mona Lisa

In 1503, da Vinci started working on what would become his most well-known painting — and arguably the most famous painting in the world —the “Mona Lisa.” The privately commissioned work is characterized by the enigmatic smile of the woman in the half-portrait.

The Present

The best research now emerges from groups and many science papers are co-authored, many works of art-creatively collaborated among individuals, even recent inventions and great ideas bear testament to the “great minds” behind them all.

Why is this you may ask? The reason is simple: many of the biggest problems that we need to solve now require the expertise of many people from different backgrounds who can bridge the gap between each discipline.

Creative Thinking and Accelerated Learning

Michael J. Gelb is a world-renowned innovator in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning and leadership development. He is also the author of How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci- Seven steps to Genius Every Day.

https://mailchi.mp/michaelgelb/subscribe-newsletter

In his book, he states that at the time of the IQ test conception, the concept was considered a breakthrough, however, contemporary research now shows two significant flaws.

Flaw 1

The idea that intelligence is fixed at birth and immutable (unchanging overtime or unable to be changed).

He believes that although individuals are endowed genetically with more or less talent in a given area, researchers such as Buzan, Machado, Wenger and many others have shown that IQ scores can be raised significantly through appropriate training. Yeah!!

Flaw 2

The second weakness is the idea that the verbal and mathematical reasoning skills measured by IQ test (and SATs) are the sine qua nons ( an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary) of intelligence.

Managing and Growing your Creative Dreams

How Management relates to growth

One of the most powerful things about growing your creative dreams is that growth requires management. This especially applies to you if you plan on making your creative dreams public or bringing it to the marketplace.

The manager part of you is different from the creative worker part of you. The creative worker only knows how to physically work directly on the creative dream. It’s the part that sews, paints, sings, dance, write or physically does something.

The manager part of you is the one who looks ahead, designs a system, or hires assistant for the creative worker.

Growth involves change, focus and strategy. Growth isn’t necessarily good if the system that supports that growth is faulty or becomes strained.

Also remember that growth in business doesn’t always match human growth.

Camana Bay

Farmers & Artisans Market

As a vibrant town center constantly growing, Camana Bay is a must-visit for international visitors and locals alike. This event, taking place on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., will allow for 40 local vendors to showcase and sell a mix of their produce, local specialty food items and artisanal and craft products.

CAMANA BAY

A destination within a destination, Camana Bay is a vibrant town located in the heart of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory.

Situated on 685 acres between Seven Mile Beach and the North Sound, this mixed-use master-planned community is one of the first examples of New Urbanism in the Caribbean.

Developed by Dart Real Estate, Camana Bay offers more than 650,000 square feet of commercial office and retail space as well as 63 luxury apartments available for long-term lease, public spaces for all to enjoy, world-class shopping and dining, as well as family-friendly entertainment, events and attractions.

For more information, visit camanabay.com and keep up with the latest developments on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CamanaBay/) and follow us on Instagram (www.instagram.com/Camana_Bay/).

Teams

Another part of managing and growing your creative dreams is assembling a team to help you. We form teams all the time without calling it that. The dictionary states that a team is: “A group of people working or playing together as a unit”.

Did you also know that families are a kind of team? Growing creative dreams calls for us to form teams because we can create more in a community than we can by ourselves.

When you make a creative dream real, it is then separate from you and needs support in order to grow.

A team is an excellent kind of support, and the right kind of team is the best type of support.

Marketing

Growing your creative dreams may involve marketing. If you are at a public stage with your creative dreams and wish to share it with more people, you will need to know something about marketing.

If you choose to involve your creative dreams in the world of trade and commerce, use some of your energy to become informed about what that means.

Marketing Essentials by Michael Ferrier

It can be extremely exciting and rewarding to share your creative dreams with the world and receive compensation in the form of money.

You can then use that money to fund more creative dreams.

Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney World

Types of Success

Success can:
• Isolate or remove you from friends or familiar things
• Distort your values
• Overwhelm you
• Cause you to quit your creative dream

The dictionary defines success as: “The gaining of position, fame, wealth, achievement or satisfaction.

Tyler Perry

Success however is not the answer or the solution, but part of a greater system. Your response to and management of your success is pivotal in nourishing yourself and your creative dreams.

Success can also:
• Expand and accelerate your creative dream
• Cause you to choose to be apart of a team
• Bring you in contact with wonderful people and things
• Assist you in making your other creative dreams real
• Support other people’s creative dreams
• Activate brand-new creative dreams

Success can also activate arrogance, egotism and entitlement.

Teachers and Mentors

We can be self-taught and taught by others. Teachers can appear in books, videos, films or by our experiences.

Micheal Jackson

Michael Jackson ruled the 80’s so dominantly, it’s easy to forget that the adorable pre-teen Jackson was a Motown sensation in the 70’s.

A child prodigy with cheerful charisma and natural dance talent, he led his band of brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon.

With four singles hitting the top of the Billboard charts, the Jackson 5 were among the first black groups to appeal to a racially diverse audience. With hits like “ABC” and “I Want You Back,” Jackson established his path to global stardom.

So remember, being teachable is important. We can need or want to learn, yet be essentially unteachable. If we are stubborn, or unwilling to listen or change, we can be unteachable.

However we receive teachings, our creative dreams will benefit from learning.

A Mentor

A Mentor is already doing/living something you want to do or live. I’ve learnt that the mentoring process is both a practical and alchemical process.

Practical, because you can imitate or practice what he or she has done and apply it to your own life.

Alchemical, because his or her energy and your energy merge and change both of you.

Mentors can mentor very briefly or over a lifetime. It is a gift that continues to give throughout generations.

Pyramids at Giza

Multiple Intelligences

In his modern classic, Frames of Mind (1983), psychologist Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences, which concluded that each of us contain at least seven measurable intelligences.

And guess what else I learnt? In Gardner’s later work with his colleagues (another prime example of group effort), they catalogued twenty-five different sub-intelligences. Wow!

Let me add my own intelligence to the following prime examples (7 being a prime number after all. Get it? Lol!).

Seven Types of Intelligences and Genius Exemplars other than Leonardo da Vinci

Meaning of Genius Exemplar: 1 : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity. 2 : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority specifically : a person with a very high IQ.

7 Types of Intelligences

• Interpersonal/Social- Queen Elizabeth I, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi
• Musical- Mozart, George Gershwin, Ella Fitzgerald
• Verbal/Linguistic- William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Jorge Luis Borges
• Logical/Mathematical- Stephen Hawkins, Isaac Newton, Marie Cutie
• Spatial/Mechanical- Michelangelo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Buckminster Fuller
• Interpersonal (self-knowledge)- Viktor Frankl, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mother Teresa
• Bodily/Kinesthetic- Morihei Ueshiba, Muhammad Ali, F.M. Alexander

The theory of multiple intelligences are now accepted widely and when combined with the realization that intelligence can be developed throughout life, offers a powerful inspiration for aspiring Renaissance men and women.

See my previous article: The Intelligent Person

Key Elements of the Patent System

The patent system is the oldest form of intellectual property right. Since its development, the concept has been featured in many of the world’s major political upheavals.

Testimony of this fact can be traced back as far as the late Middle ages where the element of monopoly conferred upon the holder of a patent has at least the potential to provide very significant economic benefits.

Brunelleschi’s Dome: The story of the Great Cathedral of Florence


Brunelleschi’s Dome

The first recorded patent was issued in Florence in the fifteenth century. According to the 5th Edition of Information Technology Law by Ian J. Lloyd, Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect of Florence’s remarkable cathedral won the world’s first patent for a technical invention in 1421.

Filippo Brunelleschi was a classic man of the Renaissance: tough-minded, multi-talented and thoroughly self-confident. He claimed he had a new means of conveying goods up the Arno River (he was intentionally vague on the details), which he refused to develop unless the state kept others from copying his design.

Filippo Brunelleschi

https://www.biography.com/artist/filippo-brunelleschi

Florence complied and Brunelleschi walked away with the right to exclude all new means of transport on the Arno River for three years.

When adopted in England, the purpose of the patent system was somewhat different. Unlike Brunelleschi’s patent, the technology covered by the patent was new to the country rather than new in itself.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the system fell increasingly into disrepute because unfortunately the system was frequently being used to boost the Royal revenues by conferring a monopoly in respect to basic commodities for a fee.

It was another hundred years however, before it was settled that in return for the award of a patent, the inventor was required to specify details of the manner in which the invention functioned and not until the enactment of the Patent Act 1902 that even a rudimentary form of examination of the patent applications was made with a view to establishing novelty.

In recent United kingdom statutes, it has been made absolutely clear that the element of invention is critical for any award and that a balance is to be struck whereby in return for putting details of the manner in which the invention functioned into the public arena, the inventor is to receive a temporary monopoly in respect of its exploration.

Description of the Modern System

The basic theory of the patent system is simple and reasonable. It is desirable in the public interest that industrial techniques should be improved. In order to encourage improvement, and to encourage the disclosure of improvements in preference to their use in secret, any person devising an improvement in a manufactured article, or in machinery or methods for making it, may upon disclosure of the improvement at the Patent Office demand to be given a monopoly in the use for a period of years.

After that period it passes into the public domain, and the temporary monopoly is not objectable, for if it had not been for the inventor who devised and disclosed the improvement nobody would have been able to use it at that or any other time, since nobody would have known about it.

Furthermore, the giving of the monopoly encourages the putting into practice of the invention, for the only way the inventor can make a profit from it (or even recover the fees for his/her patent) is by putting it into practice, either by using it themselves, and deriving an advantage over their competitors from its use, or by allowing others to use it in return for royalties.

United Kingdom’s Patent System- Patent Act 1977

Today the United Kingdom patent system is based primarily on the Patent Act 1977. This statute was enacted in part to reform and update the United Kingdom law relating to patents but also in order to bring domestic law into conformity with the provisions of the European Patent Convention, opened for signature in 1973, which provides for a measure of harmonization in matters of substance and procedure amongst signatory statutes.

There is no doubt that inventiveness is a key requirement of the patent system, what has been more debatable has been the application of the system to soft-ware related inventions. these are innovations where novelty resides primarily or exclusively in software components.

Concerns:

1 Does the software developments fit conceptually into the industrial nature of the system?

2 Does the library and related resources exist to allow claim to novelty to be adequately assessed?

Patents in the International Arena

According to the 5th Edition of thew Information Technology Law by Ian J. Lloyd, the patent systems tended to be found only in the developed world. However, since the introduction of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has resulted in many more countries introducing systems of patent protection.

The oldest international instrument is the Paris Convention, an instrument signed by ninety-six states, including all of the major industrial states. This provides that the submission of an application in one signatory state will serve to establish priority for the applicant in the event that equivalent applications are submitted in other signatory states within twelve months.

Although such a facility is of considerable value for inventors, the practical problems involved in obtaining patent protection on anything like a worldwide basis are immense, and a number of subsequent agreements have sought to ease the task facing applicants.

For a good description of the history of the United Kingdom Patent System, see the Patent Office Website at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-patent-act-1977

During the time of the Renaissance

The Convention was first opened for signatory on the 20th March 1883, with the most recent revision occurring in Stockholm in 1968.

Intellectual Property in GATTS and WTO

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has provided a legal mechanism for international trade. Reform to the system in the 1990’s brought service into the international agreement for the first time and also introduced provisions relating to the intellectual property rights.

The Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Protocol, which was adopted in 1994, entered into force on the 1st January 1995. For more information on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) requirements and signatures to make patents, visit:

https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/history_e/history_e.htm

Requirements for patentability

A patent may be awarded in respect of an invention.  The invention may relate either to a new product or to a novel process (perhaps Blockchain Technology?).

The Patents Act 1977 does not define the word ‘invention’, but it does specify attributes that any invention must possess.  These require that:

  • The invention is new
  • It involves an inventive step
  • It is capable of industrial exploitation, and
  • The grant of a patent for it is not excluded
Mi Casa es su Casa?

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/05/09/obsession-the-intruder/

Patent Software

Software-related inventions can be patented. In the United Kingdom, approximately 100 patent applications in their name are published each year. In proceedings before the European Patent Office, this figure rises to 100 per month.

The report of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on Patents, research and Technology indicates that in the last 10 years the (EPO) European Patent Office has granted around 10,000 patents for software-related inventions, and has refused only 100 applications.

In 2003, it was estimated that up to 30,000 software patents had been issued by the European Patent Office, although, in part because the existence of the statutory prohibitions requires that software-related inventions be cataloged by reference to their field of application rather than the software component.

Matters excluded from patent protection

In addition to defining the elements that most be found in an invention, the Patents Act 1977 lists a number of features which will not qualify for the grant of a patent.

Section 1(2) which mirrors Article 52 of the European Patent Convention, provides that patent are not to be awarded for:

  • A discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method (I wonder if STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is included?)
  • A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other aesthetic creation whatsoever;
  • A scheme, rule or method for performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business, or a program for a computer; or
  • The presentation of information.
https://teneishajohnsondream.wordpress.com/2019/02/05/virtual-currency-the-blockchain-innovative-technology-and-its-regulation-smart-contracts-and-digital-assets/

The Intelligent Person

Over the past few centuries, a certain ideal has become very popular: that of the intelligent person.

In traditional schools, the intelligent person would master classical languages and mathematics.

Gifted Children

In a business setting, the intelligent person would anticipate commercial opportunities, take measured risks, build up an organization, and keep the books balanced and the stockholders satisfied all at the same time.

Kind of like a Renaissance Person. (Lol!) or maybe a Supercomputer!!!

Supercomputers

I was highly stimulated by my most recent research on Supercomputers. Guess what I found out? Supercomputers and mainframes are not competing solutions as you might think!

Quantum Computers vs. Supercomputers vs. Mainframes

Supercomputers vs. Mainframes 

Both Supercomputers and mainframes address a particular type of need. The difference between supercomputers and mainframes is best described as follows:

  • Mainframes – Computing power used to perform billions of small transactions. Wow!
  • Supercomputers – Used for focusing on solving a single big problem. Hhmm..very interesting.

When it comes to measuring how powerful supercomputers are, a unit of measurement referred to as “floating-point operations per second” or “flops” is used. 

Apparently, the authority when it comes to keeping track of who has the fastest computer is the TOP500 project.

Ever since 1993, TOP 500 has been using the Linpack benchmark to measure relative performance among supercomputers to determine who has the fastest computer. The list they produce every six months contains the top-500 computers in the world, along with some really interesting metrics. See the diagram below:

We can see that the fastest computer in the world is the Sunway TaihuLight, one of the greatest sources of Chinese national pride after the giant panda. With a ridiculous price tag of $273 million. Lol!

The TaihuLight is built entirely on Chinese engineered semiconductors as part of a program to decrease China’s reliance on foreign technology.

Countries with the most Supercomputers

When it comes to the country with the most supercomputers, the USA and China are now in a dead heat when measured by total GFlops (251 million vs. 235 million) and by number of machines (168 vs. 160).

Please also note that 88% of the computing power in the TOP 500 list is owned by just 10 companies:

Supercomputers vs Quantum Computers

When quantum computers are complete, they will be expected to work on the same sort of problems that supercomputers work on today – everything from designing better airplanes to discovering new drug molecules, to assisting people with their love life! Lol!

Let’s talk about Money

The Bible gives a prime example of the stewardship of money in the book of Luke,

Chapter 20: verses 20-26;

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/09/12/testamentary-capacity-holographic-wills-and-living-trusts-vs-wills/

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20    Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

21    So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

22    Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

23    He saw through their duplicity and said to them,

24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/06/04/the-queens-birthday-in-the-cayman-islands/

Caesar’s,” they replied.

25    He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

26    They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Wow!

The Ideal Human Being (Renaissance Man/Woman)

Every society features its ideal human being. The ancient Greeks valued the person who displayed physical or athletic agility, rational judgment, and virtuous behavior (good luck with the last point!) Lol!

The Romans highlighted manly courage, and the followers of Islam prized the holy soldier.

Under the influence of Confucius, Chinese populations traditionally valued the person who was skilled in poetry, music, calligraphy, archery, and drawing.

I was even fascinated to discover that even among the Keres tribe of the Pueblo Indians today, the person who cares for others is held in high regard. That’s my favorite and most encouraging! Maybe I’ll try for that one!

The Symbol Analyst and the Master of Change

Fast forward to the 21st Century where a premium has now been placed on two new intellectual virtuoso’s or types of prodigies: the “symbol analyst” and the “master of change”.

Symbol Analyst

According to my studies, a symbol analyst can sit for hours in front of a string of numbers and words, usually displayed on a computer screen, and readily discern meaning in that maze of symbols.

This person can then make reliable, useful projections.

Cool!

Master of Change

On the other hand, a master of change readily acquires new information, solves problems, forms “ties or partnerships” with mobile and highly dispersed people, and adjusts easily to changing circumstances.

Even cooler!

It should also be noted that those charged with guiding a society or community have always been on the look out for intelligent young people.

Intelligence and Family

In the late nineteenth century, Frances Galton, who was one of the founders of modern psychological measurements, thought that intelligence ran in the family.

Frances Galton

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Galton

Based on that assumption, he looked for intelligence in the offspring of those who occupied leading positions in the British society.

However around 1870, he began to devise and create more formal tests for intelligence, ones consistent with the emerging view of the human mind as a subject for measurement and experimentation.

Now in today’s modern world we have countless people avidly pursuing the best ways of defining, measuring, and nurturing intelligence.

Alfred Binet

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Binet

Alfred Binet was a psychologist who was commissioned by the French Government to devise an objective method for identifying children who were not doing well in school.

He designed the first comprehensive intelligence test in the early 20th century.

Then later on in 1916, Lewis Terman and his colleagues at Stanford University revised Binet’s test for use in the United States, resulting in the administered test gaining wide acceptance during the 1940s and 1950s.

From there, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was introduced and is still widely used. (Fourth Edition SB-IV).

IQ = MA/CA X 100

I was also intrigued to find out that as time progressed test researchers developed a formula for expressing a child’s intellectual level that made it possible to compare children of different chronological ages (CA), which apparently are expressed in how old in years and months the children are.

This measurement was called the intelligence quotient (IQ) and is defined as follows:
IQ = MA/CA X 100

The computation of IQ made it possible to understand how a child’s intellectual ability compared to that of peers of the same chronological age. However, there were problems with this ratio approach to IQ and now IQ is assessed using the deviation IQ approach.

This approach assigns an IQ score by comparing an individual’s test score with the scores of other people of the same age range.

David Wechsler

https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Wechsler-American-psychologist

David Wechsler is primarily known for developing this technique and was applied to IQ tests that both he and his colleagues developed.

The test for early childhood is the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, or WPPSI.

The test for childhood and adolescence is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or WISC and the test for adulthood is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale or WAIS (“wace”).

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/let-s-talk-about-trash-baby

An individual who takes any of these tests obtains a score that is compared statically to the scores of other people of the same age.

The Wechsler IQ test is widely used although there are many other intelligence tests being used.

IQ is assumed to be normally distributed around an average score of 100, with about 2/3 of the general population scoring between 85 and 115 and almost 96% of the population scoring between 70 and 130.

That leaves roughly 2% of the population scoring below 70 and another 2% scoring above 130, which is a popular cutoff point for defining giftedness.

The-future-is-code-key-elements-of-the-patent-system-intellectual-property-rights-and-the-nature-of-defamation-and-the-internet

Liberal Education, the University and the Truly Educated Person

The Board of Governors of the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) made history in June 2018 when it announced the appointment of the institution’s first Vice President and Provost, Dr. Livingston Smith.

It is quite fashionable for the new student, just entering university, to have the view that making lots of money is the imperative of education and so begins to focus on what he or she is to do, rather than who he or she is to become. A fixation on specialization as the key to this end may cause that student to miss out on an education. It may turn out that study gets in the way of education.

For the typical college student, a specialty such as accounting, computing, economics or marketing is pretty straightforward, but why, in addition, courses in literature, history, philosophy, psychology, etc.

Getting to see beyond mere specialization is the challenge of liberal education. The view that the education process should develop the person not just as a businessman, farmer or physician – but as a human being – is easily sidelined, especially in the context of globalization and the urgent need for ‘belt-tightening measures’ even in education

In lean times, the humanities come into question and so areas like languages, the arts history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion are usually hardest hit. The ‘idealistic’ notion that critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning, areas the humanities especially develop, are necessary for effective participation in a free democracy regardless of career choice, becomes sidelined for the ‘urgent’ and the ‘now’.

And, yet, the purpose of education must be to prepare the student to think, to adapt, to be creative, especially knowing that job skills learnt today soon become irrelevant. A liberal education is vital.

A liberal education is one that ensures that a person becomes more than a specialist or technician. It is education that takes the long-range view and so concentrates on what shapes a person’s understanding and values, rather than on what he can use in one or two of the changing roles he might later play. As Marshall Gregory says in his article ‘A liberal Education Is Not A luxury’ published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept.12, 2008, students overriding concern should be how to develop as fully as possible their basic human birthright: their powers of imagination, aesthetic responsiveness, introspection, language, rationality, moral and ethical reasoning, physical capacities and so on.

Liberal education focuses on developing the students as fully as possible as human beings, as human persons, reflective, thinking beings and as responsible agents thus ensuring that a person becomes more than a specialist or technician. It trains but it also educates.

In explaining its devotion to a liberal education, Yale University says ‘At Yale you are required to learn broadly and deeply. Depth is covered in your major. Breadth is covered in three study areas: the Humanities and the Arts; the Sciences, and the Social Sciences and three skill areas: writing, quantitative reasoning, and a foreign language.”

Yale University Website – Fareed Zakaria in his excellent book on the subject – In Defence of a Liberal Education, says that “A Liberal Arts education teaches you how to write, how to speak your mind, and how to learn, immensely valuable tools no matter your profession.

Technology and education are actually making these skills even more valuable as routine mechanical and even computational tasks can be done by machines or workers in low wage countries.”

‘Students are clamouring for degrees that will help them secure jobs in a shifting economy, but to succeed in the long term, they’ll require an education that allows them to grow, adapt and contribute as citizens. And this is why many schools are shaking up their curricula to ensure that undergraduate business majors receive something they may not even know they need – a rigorous liberal arts education.” The Atlantic, June 28, 2016.

“Business majors seem to be graduating with some of the technical skills they’ll need to secure their jobs, but without having made the gains in writing or critical skills they’ll require to succeed over the course of their careers, or to adapt as their technical skills become outdated and the nature of the opportunities they have shifts over time.” Yoni Applebaum – Business Majors and the Liberal Arts, June, 2016.

Because by our very nature, human beings desire to know, the first task of liberal education is to fan the spark and ignite the natural inquisitiveness. Arthur Holmes, in one of my favorite books on education, The Idea of a Christian College, explains that if the mind is to be formed, the imagination stretched, the vision enlarged, the intellectual powers sharpened, then courses in reading and writing are mandatory.

With reading, he explains, comes the gaining of input, the fertilization of imagination, conceptualization, and evaluation. To write trains one to become articulate, to express, to expound, to argue, to explore relationships, to have a sense of the whole.

Friendships, marriage, family, work, recreation, political involvement, social action, technology, etc, requires understanding and right values. These all need reflection informed not only by the natural and social sciences, but also by the insight and sensitivity about human affairs which the humanities afford.

So values and facts must be taught together. The student must be exposed to ethics, to social problems, to aesthetics and to the logical structure of value judgments.

In modern societies, career mobility, rather than a job held for a long time, is critical. Career preparation, therefore, requires large understandings, rich personal qualities and lasting values. A liberal education contributes greatly to this. It does this by attention to thinking and values and by its emphasis on breadth of education

These underlie the understanding of management processes; historical perspectives on sociopolitical institutions and values as a precondition to understanding labour unions, free enterprise and alternative economic structures; cross cultural awareness and foreign area studies are essential in firms that have international relationships; the humanities , especially literature and philosophy, demand clear thinking, precise writing, and scrutiny of one’s own values that prepare one for any career involving careful communication and continued self examination.

The broadly integrative character of liberal learning moves the student beyond narrowly focused analytic techniques to see the overall picture.

In the end, it is liberal education, steeped in the thinking that education should develop the human being as an entire person that is best able to produce an educated person. The truly educated person possesses moral virtues – the qualities of character such as love and fairness, integrity and the courage of one’s conviction.

It includes intellectual virtues – what Holmes calls qualities of mind, such as breadth of understanding, openness to new ideas, intellectual honesty about other views, analytic and critical skills, and a sense of history, freshness of imagination, independence and creativity of mind.

An educated person is characterized by his or her responsible action in all areas of life. This person is conscientious, helpful, decisive, self-disciplined and has the ability to correct his or her course and start afresh.

The educated person also possesses qualities of self-knowledge. He or she is capable of an honest appraisal of his or her strengths and weaknesses and harbours no false modesty or overconfidence. Instead, he or she is willing to address weaknesses, to invest in his own strengths and, importantly, to learn from others.

The educated person is widely read and alert to the issues of the day. He or she continues to read and to grow, aware that however large the circumference of his or her knowledge, just as large are the borders of his or her ignorance.

Arthur Holmes is dead right. At the end of the experience, the university education should sharpen the mind, heighten the imagination, deepen the understanding, broaden the sympathies and kindle new interests. It should produce in the student the anxiety to shoulder his load of responsibility for himself and society.

Individuals with Disabilities

Many children with disabilities around the world have either been hidden out of shame, misunderstood or mistreated.

https://teneishajohnson.wixsite.com/dream/influence-never-stops-with-a-genera

Nevertheless, in the United States of America, the passing of the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA-97), the re-authorization of this act in 2004 (IDEA-04), and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002, we can safely say that they are making considerable steps to the needs of their most vulnerable citizens.

Within the Cayman Islands, the Government and the general population has also been working diligently to make improvements were necessary in this regard and I strongly believe this will only facilitate more unity, hope and ambition for the people of the Cayman Islands.

Remember , Influence should never have to stop with our generation or a person’s disability.

The Sunrise Adult Training Center

His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Martyn Roper toured the Sunrise Adult Training Centre (SRC) in West Bay on Thursday (12 September) and gave a “surprise performance”.

The Pursuit of Intelligence

It is obvious that efforts to measure intelligence will continue and become more widespread in the future.

Gifted Children Continued….

Across cultures we see young children excelling in various pursuits, some mastering certain capabilities a lot faster than their peers.

When such children stand out, we call them talented or gifted and when they are performing at an adult level, we call them prodigies.

https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Gifted-Children-Strategies-High-Ability/dp/1618216724

There are literally hundreds of books, dissertations or theses, and thousands of popular scholarly articles on the theory of intelligence, and other human cognitive capacities, such as creativity, expertise and genius.

Therefore I guess the question we each could ask ourselves is, how intelligent am I and what am I doing about it?

Some Characteristics of the Gifted

Testamentary Capacity, Holographic Wills and Living Trusts vs. Wills

A few years ago I acquired more information regarding making a valid will in the Cayman Islands.

The execution requirements for making a valid will in the Cayman Islands are set out in the Wills Law (2004 Revision).

It is also a requirement of Cayman Islands law that a testator must have testamentary capacity at the time of creating his or her will.

The test for testamentary capacity, known as the “golden rule,” was first explained in the English case of Banks vs. Goodfellow and it remains good law in the Cayman Islands today. Here are the facts:

(a) Does the testator understand the nature and effect of what he/she is doing;

(b) Is he/she aware, broadly, of the extent of his/her estate;

(c) Does he/she appreciate the claims of those who might reasonably expect to benefit from his/her estate; and

(d) In considering (c), is there any disorder of the mind or insane delusion that will influence the disposition of his/her property or poison his/her affections such that he/she would make a disposition of property that he/she would not otherwise have made.

In summary, the Wills Law provides that a will must be in writing; it must be signed by the testator or by some other person in his/her presence, at his/her direction.

If the latter, the testator must acknowledge such signature in the presence of two witnesses present at the same time.

If the former, the testator’s signature must be attested to by two witnesses present at the same time in his/her presence.

Subject to only two exceptions for soldiers and sailors on active service, the execution requirements must be complied with; if not, it will be invalid.​

Holographic Wills

Unfortunately, the Cayman Islands law does not, as a general principle, permit holographic wills.

Holographic wills are documents that are usually handwritten and do not comply with the strict requirements for proper execution as a will but have nevertheless been written as testamentary documents, often in extreme circumstances.

​Famous Holographic Will

The most famous holographic will was that of Cecil George Harris, a Canadian farmer who in 1948 suffered the misfortune of becoming trapped under his tractor and fearing that he was about to die, carved a will into the fender which read, “In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris.” The fender was submitted to probate as his valid holographic will.

Testamentary Capacity

Apparently in the common law tradition, testamentary capacity is the legal term of art used to describe a person’s legal and mental ability to make or alter a valid will.

This concept has also been called sound mind and memory or disposing mind and memory. Cool!

I also learnt that Testamentary intent refers to a testator’s intention with respect to a particular instrument that functions as his/her last will.

Testamentary intent is required for a will to be valid.

Then we have to consider the person’s legal capacity to enter a contract:

Here is a definition and example:

One of the elements of a contract is capacity. Capacity means that a person is legally able to enter into a contract.

There are several things that make a person legally able to do so, including age and state of mind.

A person who is in the end stages of Alzheimer’s disease probably does not have the requisite capacity to sign legal documents.

However, a person with a diagnosis of dementia may very well be able to sign legal documents. Generally speaking, capacity is usually analyzed situationally.

The other way to change your will is by adding what is called a codicil. A codicil is like an amendment or addition to your will.

Use a codicil to revoke part of your will or add a new provision.

To be valid, they must be dated, signed, and witnessed just like a legal will.

I learnt that it is extremely important to keep your will updated. As life changes, so do potential beneficiaries and heirs.

Updating Your Last Will and Testament

If you do not keep your last will and testament updated, it may not reflect your wishes given your new circumstances. The following are good situations in which changing a will may be wise.

  • Marriage:
    • When you get married, both you and your spouse should each create a new will.
    • Most states have laws that award a percentage of your estate to your spouse upon your death.  
    • However, if you want to devise your will differently, you should specify this in your will.
    • Furthermore, adding your spouse to your will may change the percentage of your estate, or of a specific asset, that another beneficiary or heir was previously written to receive.
    • Changing a will should reflect this new proportion as you see fit.
  • Common Law Marriage:
    • The following information was all I could find that would classify eligibility:
    • Any person who has been married to a Caymanian-

v      for at least five years immediately preceding the application, where the marriage took place prior to the 1st January 2004; or

v      for at least seven years immediately preceding the application, where the marriage took place on or after 1st January 2004

v      whose marriage is not a marriage of convenience;

v      who is not living apart from his spouse under a decree of a competent court or under a deed of separation;

v      who has not lived apart from his spouse for an aggregate period of three months

v      out of the five years immediately preceding the application where the marriage took place prior to 1st January 2004; or

v      out of the seven years immediately preceding the application where the marriage took place on or after 1st January, 2004.

v      who is legally and ordinarily resident* in the Islands immediately preceding his application; and

v      who has not in any country been convicted of an offence for which a sentence of imprisonment not exceeding twelve months has been passed other than for non-payment of a fine unless-

1.      the conviction has been quashed on appeal or has been the subject of a free pardon;

2.     the act or omission giving rise to such conviction would not be an offence if done or omitted in the Islands in similar circumstances; or

3.     the conviction is one which, in the interest of justice, the Board directs to be ignored for the purposes of this section,

  • Obtaining a new partner, without marriage:
    • Only if married will your partner automatically receive assets from your estate.
    • So, if you find yourself with a new loved one, changing a will to reflect what you would like to leave that partner is necessary.
  • Divorce:
    • Upon divorce, some states revoke any gifts you leave your spouse in your will. Other states do not.
    • Changing a will upon a divorce is very important.
    • You will want to either specify what you want to leave your former spouse, or else specify how those gifts should now be distributed.
  • A new baby:
    • There are laws in some states that give children some portion of your assets upon your death.
    • However, not everyone wants their property to be distributed the way the state laws specify.
    • If you welcome a new baby into your family, be sure to specify what gifts, the baby shall receive, by changing a will.
    • Perhaps more importantly, be sure to appoint a guardian for the baby.
    • This will be the person who will care for your baby should anything happen to you.
  • New stepchildren:
    • Stepchildren are not automatically entitled to inherit a share of your property in many states.
    • Therefore, if you would like for your stepchildren to inherit any of your property, be sure to specify your wishes by changing your own will.
  • Moving from a community property state to a common law property state:
    • The laws governing what each spouse owns vary depending on whether the couple lives in a community property state or a common law property state.
    • Therefore, if you are planning on moving to a new state, check that states laws.
    • If it differs from the one you currently reside it, be sure to change your own will, according to your new property ownership status.

i.e.    Persons of independent means:

The Cayman Islands Government offers five Immigration products for wealthy, private investors and senior executives who are seeking long-term residence in the Cayman Islands.

1.      Certificate of Permanent Residency for Persons of Independent Means (Form R5) – Persons who invest a minimum of two million Cayman Islands’ Dollars in developed real estate in the Cayman Islands may apply for a Certificate of Permanent Residence for Persons of Independent Means.

As the Certificate title denotes, a holder has the right to reside indefinitely in the Cayman Islands.

A holder will also have the option of seeking naturalization as a British Overseas Territories Citizen and, thereafter, the right to be Caymanian.

A holder and his spouse may also have their permission to remain varied to allow the right to work in the Cayman Islands.

2.      Residency Certificate for Persons of Independent Means Form R2 – This facility is for persons who wish to reside long-term in the Cayman Islands without the right to work.

Applicants will be required to demonstrate that they have invested a prescribed minimum amount in developed real estate in the Islands and that they meet certain financial standing requirements.

A successful applicant will be granted permission to reside in the Islands for a period of 25 years (renewable). This residence type cannot be varied to allow the right to work.

3.      Certificate of Direct Investment Form R8 – The Certificate of Direct Investment is for persons who invest, or propose to invest, a minimum prescribed amount in a licensed employment generating business in the Cayman Islands and in which he/she will exercise substantial management control.

An applicant must demonstrate a substantial business track record or an entrepreneurial background, including specific professional, technical and other knowledge relevant and necessary to carry on the business.

4.      Residency Certificate (Substantial Business Presence) Form R6 – This facility is for persons who invest in, or who are employed in a senior management capacity within, an approved category of business in the Cayman Islands.

A successful applicant is granted a Residency Certificate valid for 25 years (renewable) which entitles him to reside in the Islands and to work in the business in which he has invested or is employed in a senior management capacity.

  • Changing your mind about heirs: Of course, things can happen in life that cause people to change their minds about the way in which they’d like their property distributed. Changing a will to reflect these new wishes is important.
  • New or disposed of assets: Perhaps in your will you would like to leave all of your property or a percentage of your property to your heirs, then what you own changes and there is no need to change your will. However, if you have willed certain gifts to people in your will, and you no longer have those properties, be sure to remove said property from your will. Additionally, when you acquire new property, be sure to account for that in your will.

Ways of changing a will

The easiest way of changing a will is simply to make a new will. It is imperative that you revoke the old will.

To do this, simply write a statement in the new will that states that you revoke all wills and codicils that you have previously made.

This is sufficient to revoke any previous wills, but it is wise to also destroy any of your previous wills in order to avoid confusion or challenges to your new will.

The other way to change your will is by adding what is called a codicil.

A codicil is like an amendment or addition to your will. Use a codicil to revoke part of your will or add a new provision.

To be valid, they must be dated, signed, and witnessed just like a legal will.

Codicils were an efficient way of changing a will before there were computers and printing was a hassle.

Today, codicils should be avoided wherever possible. They can cause confusion, be lost, and are sometimes even a means to challenge wills.

That information is definitely worth remembering!

Changes to other estate documents

Much of your property passes by law to beneficiaries, despite what your will says.

Property such as retirement proceeds, life insurance proceeds, joint bank accounts, payable-on-death bank accounts, and stocks registered with a transfer-on-death form all pass directly to a specified beneficiary.

If you change your mind about who the beneficiary should be, change the names using the forms on which you named the original beneficiaries.

Do not change the named beneficiaries through your will, for it will have no effect.

Living trusts are also not affected by the terms of your will. If you decide to change the terms of your living trust, add an amendment to the original trust document. Then, transfer property in or out of the trustee’s name, accordingly.

You do not need to worry about having to revoke a trust and create an original one, like when changing a will.

Living Trust

What Is a Living Trust?

A living trust is a legal document, or trust, created during an individual’s lifetime where a designated person, the trustee, is given responsibility for managing that individual’s assets for the benefit of the eventual beneficiary.

A living trust is designed to allow for the easy transfer of the trust creator or settlor’s assets while bypassing the often complex and expensive legal process of probate. Living trust agreements designate a trustee who holds legal possession of assets and property that flow into the trust.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • A living trust designates a trustee to manage assets for the beneficiary, while the grantor is still alive.
  • Trustees with fiduciary duty manage trusts according to the beneficiary’s best interests.
  • Living trusts can be either irrevocable or revocable.

How Living Trusts Work

Living trusts are managed by a trustee who typically has a fiduciary duty to manage the trust prudently in the best interests of the trust’s beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the trust settlor, also called a grantor. Upon the death of the settlor, these assets flow to the beneficiaries according to the grantor’s wishes as outlined in the trust agreement. Unlike a will, however, a living trust is in effect while the settlor is alive and the trust does not have to clear the courts to reach its intended beneficiaries when the settlor dies or becomes incapacitated. 

Types of Living Trusts

Living trusts can be irrevocable or revocable.

Living Revocable Trust

With a living revocable trust, the trust settlor can designate himself or herself as the trustee and take control of assets within the trust. However, this stipulation means the assets in the trust remain a part of the trust settlor’s estate, meaning the individual may still be liable for estate taxes should the estate be valued beyond the estate tax exemption at the time of death. The trust settlor also has the power to change and amend trust rules at any time. This means the trust settlor is free to change beneficiaries or undo the trust altogether.  

Irrevocable Living Trust

With an irrevocable living trust, the settlor relinquishes certain rights to control over the trust. The trustee effectively becomes legal owner, but the individual would also reduce his or her taxable estate. Once the trust agreement for an irrevocable living trust is made, the named beneficiaries are set and the settlor can do little to amend that agreement. 

Wills and Trusts

Wills and Trusts are both estate planning documents used to pass assets on to beneficiaries at death. … Here are five ways in which a Trust is better than a Will to pass your estate to your beneficiaries. A Trust can be used to Avoid Probate – a Will cannot.

When you die, this creates a change of beneficiary or beneficiaries. The person or persons you named in your trust documents to inherit from you become the new beneficiaries upon your death. They now own the assets you placed in your trust, according to the terms you decided when you made it.

Advantages to using a Trust over a Will

Wills and Trusts are both estate planning documents used to pass assets on to beneficiaries at death.  However, there are distinct advantages to using a Trust over a Will.  Here are five ways in which a Trust is better than a Will to pass your estate to your beneficiaries.

  1. A Trust can be used to Avoid Probate – a Will cannot. Probate is the process of changing the title on assets when someone passes away.  Assets that are owned in a deceased person’s individual name and for which there is no named beneficiary are no longer accessible once the owner of the asset has died. In order for family members to gain access to accounts or other assets in the deceased’s individual name, they must file a petition with the probate court and wait for the court to approve the Will and appoint the Personal Representative.  This can be a long and costly process during which bills cannot be paid and assets cannot be managed.  A Trust is an excellent probate avoidance tool because assets that are owned in the name of a Trust are immediately accessible to the trust-maker’s designated successor.
  2. A Trust can provide Creditor Protection for the Inheritance you Leave to Beneficiaries – a Will cannot. Many people worry that the inheritance they leave to their children will be lost to their children’s creditors such as a divorcing spouse, unpaid credit card bills, a bankruptcy, a business loss, or a lawsuit.  Sadly, this is often the case when assets are distributed to beneficiaries via a Will.  A Trust allows the maker to safeguard an inheritance from the reach of the beneficiaries’ creditors by keeping the assets out of the name of the beneficiary.  Ownership of the assets remains in the Trust.  The beneficiary will have access to the assets in accordance with the directions you leave in your Trust. You may also allow your beneficiary to serve as Trustee, allowing the beneficiary to manage her own inheritance.  By leaving assets to your beneficiaries via a Trust rather than outright via your Will, you can ensure that the assets you worked so hard for will be available to your children and future generations.
  3. A Trust can Protect Governmental Benefits for a Person with Disabilities – a Will cannot. If you have a child, grandchild or other beneficiary with disabilities, then a Trust is a must.  If you leave assets to a person who receives needs-based governmental benefits via your Will, it will place your beneficiary in the difficult position of either losing those benefits, or transferring the inheritance into a Trust of which the state must be the beneficiary at the beneficiary’s death.  Unless the inheritance you are leaving is so significant that the monetary and medical benefits available to the person through programs such as Social Security and Medicaid are no longer important, then making sure that those governmental benefits continue to be available is vital.  Leaving assets to a person with disabilities via a Trust is the best way to ensure those governmental benefits are preserved and that the inheritance you leave will be available to pay for expenses that are not covered by these governmental benefits, which while vital to many, are limited in their scope.
  4. Trusts can Reduce Estate Taxes – a Traditional Will cannot. Many married couples have so-called “I-love-you” Wills, which leave all assets outright to the surviving spouse upon the first death.  If you have an estate of more than $1,000,000, then using “I-love-you” Wills means that money you think you are leaving to your beneficiaries will in fact be going to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the form of estate tax payable at the surviving spouse’s death.  If you would prefer that your assets pass to your family, create Trusts to reduce estate taxes.  Estate tax planning via Trusts for married couples is standard planning and permissible under both state and federal tax laws.
  5. A Trust can Administer Assets for Minor Beneficiaries without Court Intervention – a Will cannot. Leaving money directly to a minor creates an administrative nightmare because the law provides that a minor does not have the legal capacity to receive assets. The parent of the minor also does not have the ability to act as the child’s legal representative until the court says so.  As such, if you die with a Will that leaves money to minor beneficiaries, the court will need to appoint a Conservator to receive that inheritance for your children.  The Conservator will be required to report annually to the court and the court will appoint an overseer (guardian ad litem) to make sure the Conservator is doing his or her job for your minor beneficiaries.  This means huge costs and long delays in administering funds for minors.  It also means that when the minor turns 18, he or she will be entitled to receive all of those assets and will be free to do with them as he or she wishes (think fast cars, spring break, and lots of shopping).  Creating a Trust to receive assets passing to a minor, or even to a young adult beneficiary, is the best way to ensure that the court is not involved in the process, that the person  you want to manage assets for the beneficiary is able to do so, and that the beneficiary can use  the assets only for purposes you decide are important and/or at ages that you dictate.

These are just five ways in which a Trust is superior to a Will.

When There is no Will

According to Robert Mack, HSM Chambers, most people know that making a will is the “adult thing” to do, especially when children and other dependents are involved.

However, like most unpleasant things in life, we tend to put it off for as long as possible.

In some tragic cases life can end suddenly and unexpectedly, or a person can be struck down by illness and lose their mental capacity which would otherwise prevent them from creating a valid will.

So, when there is no will, what is the way?

See the Journal’s  link below for more details:

http://www.journal.ky/2018/06/06/where-theres-no-will-theres-a-way/

Where there’s no will – there’s a way

Digital Assets

Let’s also not forget that digital assets fall into two broad categories: valuable and sentimental.

Valuable digital assets include such things as cryptocurrencies, online investment/bank accounts, online store credits, intellectual property, and anything else which has a tangible dollar value attached to it.

Sentimental digital assets, on the other hand, include photographs, personal videos, blog posts, social media accounts, and information held in email messages.

So how can a Will manage these two distinct types of digital assets?

See the Link below for more details:

http://www.journal.ky/2018/07/05/ghost-in-the-machine-wills-and-digital-assets/

Cages and Curses (Wild Thoughts) Fight!

There is no peace when you serve Satan! What is caging you may ask?

It is when a person is literally put in a cage spiritually, so that they cannot see the wrong actions of someone, or so that they will believe lies about someone. It’s kind of like putting mental blinders on someone. Like the blinders you’d put on horses so they see in only one direction.

We must be ever vigilant as Christians so that we can discern if a person is a true servant of Jesus Christ. Once a person is caged, it is easy to place all kinds of wrong thoughts into their minds and they will not realize that the thoughts are inconsistent with God’s word.

This is one way in which demonic doctrines can get accepted in the Christian Churches today.

As Christians, we must refuse to accept anything or anyone at face value and test everything against God’s word. Don’t fall for someone just because of his or her charisma. Unfortunately, in today’s society we are easily susceptible to following people with a lot of charisma.

I believe that is perhaps one of the greatest problems within our churches today. Too many people may obtain positions of leadership simple because they have very charismatic personalities which naturally attract people.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/be-prepared-the-day-after-tomorrow

Satanism is a big problem around the world and it is beyond anything that has been portrayed in the press. Every city, town or country has its covens, groups or community of people who directly worship and serve Satan.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/hello-world-are-you-there

Unfortunately, it also appears that even some High schools, Universities, Colleges and even Christian schools have their own covens.

In addition to this, did you know that many Asian religions practice another form of Satanism like Egyptians and Caribbean cults?

It doesn’t matter how you pretty it up and make it look glamorous, every religion that worships and serves demons is a form of Satanism. Some people refer to them as energies, vibrations, pagan gods, spirit entities etc.

I don’t care! They are still demons!

In 2 Timothy 4:1-5 it states,

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.

3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministries.

The Appeal Renewed

2 Timothy 2:1-13

1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrusted to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others

3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.

6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.

7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,

9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him;

12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

And I forward to verse 19

19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription:

“The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.

21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.

24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,

26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Types of Doorways

  • Inheritance
  • Ouija board
  • Ritual sex
  • Tarot cards
  • General occult games
  • Animal sacrifice
  • Murder
  • Horoscope
  • Blood contracts
  • Witchcraft
  • Drugs
  • Kung fu
  • Karate
  • Human sacrifice
  • Drinking blood (animal & human)
  • Hypnosis
  • Incest
  • Palm reading
  • Yoga
  • Rock music
  • Occult & horror movies
  • Rebellion
  • Drunkenness
  • Multiple sexual relationships
  • Cannibalism
  • Astral-projection
  • Blasphemy

Curses can also be placed on mirrors and this can be used as a doorway for demons to enter into a place. Mirrors are a common doorway frequently used to establish communication with the spirit world. All Christians must be alerted to this source of trouble, especially pastors and Christian leaders.

Terrible damage is being done within Christian churches and in relationships between people because of these curses and incantations. We must always be alert and sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Put on the whole Amor of God and ask the Lord to show you how to use it. Even though we may not be able to see the armor of God, it is real armor in the spirit world. We can use it in the physical world with the help of the Holy Spirit.

So, what exactly is the Armor of God you may ask? In Ephesian 6:10-18 it says,

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/the-sins-of-the-father-generational-curses-the-dark-tower/

 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 

15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

And I say personally, “ 19 Pray for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Amen”

Psalm 35 New International Version

1 Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take up shield and armor;
    arise and come to my aid.
3 Brandish spear and javelin
    against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
    “I am your salvation.”

4 May those who seek my life
    be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
    be turned back in dismay.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
    with the angel of the Lord driving them away;
6 may their path be dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

7 Since they hid their net for me without cause
    and without cause dug a pit for me,
8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—
    may the net they hid entangle them,
    may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord
    and delight in his salvation.
10 My whole being will exclaim,
    “Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
    the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11 Ruthless witnesses come forward;
    they question me on things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good
    and leave me like one bereaved.
13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
    and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
14     I went about mourning
    as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
    as though weeping for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
    assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
    They slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;
    they gnashed their teeth at me.

17 How long, Lord, will you look on?
    Rescue me from their ravages,
    my precious life from these lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
    among the throngs I will praise you.
19 Do not let those gloat over me
    who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
    maliciously wink the eye.
20 They do not speak peaceably,
    but devise false accusations
    against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
    With our own eyes we have seen it.”

22 Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.
    Do not be far from me, Lord.
23 Awake, and rise to my defense!
    Contend for me, my God and Lord.
24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;
    do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
    or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 May all who gloat over my distress
    be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
    be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May those who delight in my vindication
    shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
    who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

28 My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
    your praises all day long.

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/09/12/testamentary-capacity-holographic-wills-and-living-trusts-vs-wills/

I believe there is power in God’s word and we can still act upon His word today as the Holy Spirit shows us where to set our feet.

Please note however that it is important that we keep an attitude of humility and grace as we pray. John Dawson reminds us,

“As you stand in the gap for your city, allow the Holy Spirit to shine the bright light of truth into the inner rooms of your soul.

In Los Angeles, humans live with orcs and elves in a world where fantasy creatures do exist. LAPD police officer Dayl Ward is the first human cop having the orc police officer Nick Jakoby as a partner. When Ward is shot by an orc and Jakoby does not capture the shooter, he questions whether Jakoby lets the fellow orc escape. During a patrol, Ward and Jakoby arrest a man that tells that there is a prophecy and Ward is blessed. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs press Ward to find the truth about the escape of the shooter so that they can fire Jakoby. The magic department of the FBI interrogates the man that belongs to the terrorist Shield of Light group which protects brights so that they can prepare for the return of the Dark Lord that will destroy the world. Ward and Jakoby are summoned to attend a disturbance and they stumble upon a Shield of Light safe-house where they arrest the elf Tikka and bag her magic wand. Soon they learn that Tikka is hunted down by the evil and powerful rogue elf Leilah and her Terrorist group Inferni which are the ones actually trying to resurrect the dark lord and they need to protect Tikka and the wand; otherwise the world will be destroyed.

Women in the Church

A big obstacle that we as women face in maintaining an effective prayer life is the persistent and ever popular questions of,

“How can my prayers possibly make a difference in my life, my family, my community, my country or the entire world?”

This hesitation may possibly be Satan’s most effective method of discouraging us from pursuing prayer. Yet scripture clearly shows us that when believers pray on earth, they activate activities in the heavenlies.

The prophet Daniel had an angelic visitation after three weeks of prayer and fasting, and repenting on behalf of his people. The angel told Daniel that on the first day he humbled himself to pray, God had heard his words. In fact, the angel had been dispatched with a message in response to Daniel’s prayer, but had encountered interference from the “prince of Persia.”

Ultimately the messenger angel had to get help from the angel Michael to get his message through and he delivered a prophetic message to Daniel. If there were rulers or principalities in the spiritual realm trying to stop Daniel’s prayers from being answered then, who are we to believe we are immune!

I still believe there are hostile spiritual forces trying to block our prayers from being answered and scripture implies that these principalities rule over different geographical locations.

The Book of Daniel

The book of Daniel illustrates how God protected and promoted four young men.

When Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego demonstrated their faithfulness to God, they are delivered from deadly perils by God’s mighty acts.

In the bible, Daniel was given the ability to interpret dreams and in the second part of the book of Daniel, it describes visions and messages that Daniel received from God through angelic messengers. These visions are represented in the cryptic language and symbolic terms typical of apocalyptic literature.

The End Times

12 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”

7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”

9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/performances-of-understanding-where-do-you-call-home-are-you-considered-an-asset-or-a-liability/

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit

The gift of the Holy Spirit empowers us to be strong women of God, even in our moments of weakness. In the bible, Jesus promised his followers, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, or Strengthener) that He may remain with you forever; the Spirit of Truth.

The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26-27)

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:1-15 New International Version (NIV)

16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.

3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.

7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Jesus Prays for His Disciples (John 17:6-19)

6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.

12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers (John 17:20-26)

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

God in His marvelous grace, began revealing His will for man right from the beginning, in Genesis 3:15, which is the first prophecy related to God’s redemptive plan for the salvation of mankind.

From there onward, through the pens of many writers, including myself, I strongly believe that God will continue to reveal more and more of His plan, which we can still find in the Bible today!

The Power of Three: A Perfect Testimony

During the third month of the calendar year (March), we shall celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, also known as Easter Sunday. Some churches may also celebrate Palm Sunday, which is the final Sunday before Easter Sunday.

Did you know that it is said that Christ died and rose again on the third day and that there is a symbolic meaning for the number (3) three?

Biblically, three is the number of the Godhead and the number of Divine completeness?

There is also Divine Order: https://teneishajohnsondream.wordpress.com/2017/09/24/the-power-of-humility-behind-the-scenes-in-gods-divine-order/

Night School-Day School (Even High School): The Power of AAA Dow Jones Performances (Aptitude + Ability + Ambition)

We all were young once. Many of us still feel that way even though our bodies have a different interpretation.

I believe education or schooling is important for everyone and the extent of schooling in any society is tied to its level of economic development.

https://schools.edu.ky/JGHS/Pages/Home.aspx

According to my most recent studies, the word school is from a Greek root word that means “leisure”.

In ancient Greece, famous teachers such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato taught aristocratic, upper-class men who had plenty of spare time.

Plato (429-347 BC) was born in fifth-century Athens to a wealthy family. As a young Athenian of his station, he was expected to pursue politics and such worthy matters.

Instead Plato decided to follow the path of his mentor, Socrates (470-399 BC) and became a philosopher.

In ancient times Athens was home to some of the most extraordinary accomplishments of philosophy, art, and science in human history.

Plato was born in a time known as the city’s “Golden Age” in the fifth century BC.

I’m delighted to also suggest a movie I’ve watched years ago which I thought was magnificently created to depict what life must have been like during that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXZt-IlClhs

Even though the emphasis was placed on Sparta, which was a small city in the rugged mountains of southern Greece and was feared for its military might, we are still able to see the connection to their neighbors in Athens.

Leonidas (GERARD BUTLER) bids farewell to his son Pleistarchos (GIOVANI ANTONIO CIMMINO) and wife Gorgo (LENA HEADEY) as the 300 begin their march north in Warner Bros. Pictures’, Legendary Pictures’ and Virtual Studios’ action drama “300,” distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF THIS SPECIFIC MOTION PICTURE AND TO REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE STUDIO. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION

Based on evidence of the past and clear and continuous events experienced in the present, it has now been widely perceived that both politics and religion are still the most heated topics and note-worthy matters in our society today.

Many cultures around the world and their people are passionate about these topics.

The same has been reported to be true in ancient China, where famous philosopher Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu) was known to have only shared his wisdom with a privileged few.

Speaking of China, guess what I found out? The Musuo is a very small society in China’s Yunnan province, in which women control most property, select their sexual partners, and make most decisions about everyday life.

The Musuo appear to be operating with the Matriarchy (“rule of mothers”) type of system. This is a form of social organization in which females dominate males and have only rarely been documented in human history.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/the-intelligent-person

I’ve mentioned that interesting fact only because further on I will explain what Patriarchy (“rule of fathers”) is all about and how that has affected equality in our world today.

However, I strongly and passionately believe that neither one of these systems should be the standard or the social-norm in our world today.

Did you know that the limited schooling that takes place in lower-income countries reflects the national culture? The way that country is view by the rest of the world?

In Iran, for example, schooling is closely tied to Islam. Similarly, schooling in Bangladesh (Asia), Zimbabwe (Africa), and Nicaragua (Latin America) has been shaped by the distinctive cultural traditions of these nations.

Unfortunately, all lower-income countries have one trait in common when it comes to schooling. There is not much of it.

Here are the facts- According to World Bank 2011, In the world’s poorest nations (including several in Central America), about one-fourth of all children never get to go to school.

Another fact- World-wide, more than one-third of all children never reach the secondary grades or high school. As a result, about one-sixth of the world’s people cannot read or write.

Research shows that reading and writing skills are widespread in high-income countries, where illiteracy rates generally are below 5 percent.

I’ve also learnt that in much of Latin America, illiteracy is unfortunately more common and one of the consequences are due to limited economic development.

Statistics also shows that in twelve nations-most of them in Africa- illiteracy is the rule rather than the exception. Many of their people rely on the oral tradition of face-to-face communication rather than the written word.

However, the following map below has more updated information regarding where we are now regarding actual literacy around the world.

So, based on what you’ve observed, do you agree or disagree and how can we help each other raise our standards?

However, saying all of that, you know what I have come to realize- its even greater odds to be educated if you’re a girl in certain countries.

Many poor families depend on the earnings of their children, and in places like India where child labor has already been outlawed, many children still continue to work in factories-weaving rugs or making hand-crafted items which limits their opportunities for any time or kind of education.

Patriarchy (rule of fathers) is a form of social organization in which males dominate females and is found almost everywhere in the world.

This type of system shapes Indian education and most Indians parents are joyful at the birth of a boy because he and his future wife will both contribute income to the family.

Whereas it is seen as an economic cost to raising a girl. In their culture, parents must provide a dowry (a gift of wealth to the groom’s family) and after her marriage, a daughter’s work only benefits her husband’s family.

Therefore, many Indians see less reason to invest in the schooling of girls.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/the-intelligent-person

Did you also know that education has not always been part of the way of life for the Japanese? Before industrialization brought mandatory education in 1872, only a privileged few attended schools.

Now, Japan is a force to be reckoned with and its educational system is widely praised for producing some of the world’s highest achievers!

Results continue to show that Japanese schooling continue to produce impressive results and in many notable fields such as mathematics and science, Japanese students continue to outperform students in almost every other high-income nation, including the United States. Wow!

I hope they make time for a love life eventually or there won’t be many of them left. Lol!

In Great Britain during the Middle Ages, education was a privilege of the British Nobility, who studied classical subjects, having little concern at the time for the practical skills necessary and needed to earn a living.

However, as the Industrial Revolution came around it became evident that there was a need for an educated labor force, and as working-class people demanded access to schools, a rising share of the population entered the classroom.

British law now requires every child to attend school until the age of sixteen. I like that!

Now we can’t forget the United States in this article- after all they were among the first countries to set a goal of mass education for their people.

Studies show that by 1850, about half of the young people between the ages of five and nineteen were enrolled in school (1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit”).

We still need the bible in our schools!

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/09/12/testamentary-capacity-holographic-wills-and-living-trusts-vs-wills/
Teddy Walker is a successful salesman whose life takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally blows up his place of employment. Forced to attend night school to get his GED, Teddy soon finds himself dealing with a group of misfit students, his former high school nemesis and a feisty teacher who doesn’t think he’s too bright.

And by 1918, all states had passed a mandatory education law requiring children to attend school until the age of sixteen or completion of eight grade.

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-24 (The Day of the Lord) says,

5  Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4  But you, brother and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5  You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet (Kind of like a Spartan Soldier).
9  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
12  Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13  Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14  And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16  Rejoice always, 17  pray continually, 18  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19  Do not quench the Spirit. 20  Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21  but test them all; hold on to what is good,
https://schools.edu.ky/JGHS/Pages/Home.aspx
https://schools.edu.ky/JGHS/Pages/Home.aspx
22  reject every kind of evil. 
23  May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

The United States history states that Thomas Jefferson thought the new nation could become democratic only if the people learned to read.

Today, the United States has an outstanding record of higher education for its people.
Education is constantly being promoted in the United States and nearly all American’s dream of higher education and equal opportunities. National surveys show that most people think education is crucial to personal success, and more and more people are starting to believe the dream!

Everyone should have a chance to get an education, and it would be wonderful to receive one that is in line with the personal ability and talent of that individual.

Oh, what a dream that would be!

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/replicas-7th-heaven-backing-sand

Higher Education

However, we all know that is many people’s dream around the world but not the actual reality. And there are also many grown adults who sacrificed for a higher education and still bear the burden of existing student loans.

Many of the countries that I have mentioned above and others that were not mention but are definitely in the mix; realize the significance of education and its crucial importance to their economic development and increased equality.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/replicas-7th-heaven-backing-sand

So, what’s makes schools, colleges or universities so important? There are several variables.

Cool Reasons to go to School

Well, number one’s pretty easy.

  • It’s a good place to meet new people and interact.
Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school’s pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai (Brittany Murphy) a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother (Paul Rudd) was right about how misguided she was — and falls for him

Now please understand, everyone is different, and some people may require or function more effectively in a different environment. We are all not the same.

After a spurned classmate curses him, an arrogant teen will be forever ugly unless he finds true love.

However, according to the definition of Sociology, which is the systematic study of the human society and the world around us, I can see such compounds as a great place to mix and mingle.

Alfred Binet

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Binet

Alfred Binet was a psychologist who was commissioned by the French Government to devise an objective method for identifying children who were not doing well in school.

He designed the first comprehensive intelligence test in the early 20th century.

Then later on in 1916, Lewis Terman and his colleagues at Stanford University revised Binet’s test for use in the United States, resulting in the administered test gaining wide acceptance during the 1940s and 1950s.

From there, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was introduced and is still widely used. (Fourth Edition SB-IV).

IQ = MA/CA X 100

I was also intrigued to find out that as time progressed test researchers developed a formula for expressing a child’s intellectual level that made it possible to compare children of different chronological ages (CA), which apparently are expressed in how old in years and months the children are.

This measurement was called the intelligence quotient (IQ) and is defined as follows:
IQ = MA/CA X 100

The computation of IQ made it possible to understand how a child’s intellectual ability compared to that of peers of the same chronological age. However, there were problems with this ratio approach to IQ and now IQ is assessed using the deviation IQ approach.

This approach assigns an IQ score by comparing an individual’s test score with the scores of other people of the same age range.

David Wechsler

https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Wechsler-American-psychologist

David Wechsler (Wechester, 1974) is primarily known for developing this technique and was applied to IQ tests that both he and his colleagues developed.

The test for early childhood is the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, or WPPSI.

The test for childhood and adolescence is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or WISC and the test for adulthood is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale or WAIS (“wace”).

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/let-s-talk-about-trash-baby

An individual who takes any of these tests obtains a score that is compared statically to the scores of other people of the same age.

The Wechsler IQ test is widely used although there are many other intelligence tests being used.

IQ is assumed to be normally distributed around an average score of 100, with about 2/3 of the general population scoring between 85 and 115 and almost 96% of the population scoring between 70 and 130.

That leaves roughly 2% of the population scoring below 70 and another 2% scoring above 130, which is a popular cutoff point for defining giftedness.

The-future-is-code-key-elements-of-the-patent-system-intellectual-property-rights-and-the-nature-of-defamation-and-the-internet

However as much as we admire or perhaps despise the gifted, we can not and most not leave behind those who need us the most.

Individuals with Disabilities

Many children with disabilities around the world have either been hidden out of shame, misunderstood or mistreated.

https://teneishajohnson.wixsite.com/dream/influence-never-stops-with-a-genera

Nevertheless, in the United States of America, the passing of the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA-97), the re-authorization of this act in 2004 (IDEA-04), and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002, we can safely say that they are making considerable steps to the needs of their most vulnerable citizens.

Within the Cayman Islands, the Government and the general population has also been working diligently to make improvements were necessary in this regard and I strongly believe this will only facilitate more unity, hope and ambition for the people of the Cayman Islands.

Remember , Influence should never have to stop with our generation or a person’s disability.

Celebrating Cayman’s Constitution with other Nations

The Cayman Islands Constitutional Order 2009  is the highest law of the land. It establishes the system of governance, creates procedures and structure for the government and sets out the government’s powers.

Now it has been ten years since the Cayman Islands voted to adopt their modernized constitution. After an extensive period of discussion and negotiations, and the first local Referendum, the new Cayman Islands Constitution was approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Privy Council on June 10, 2009 and came into force on November 6, 2009.

http://www.constitutionalcommission.ky/know-your-constitution

So, what’s in the Constitution you may ask? Hhmm…. let me see if I learnt how to read when I went to primary school. Lol!

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

The people of the Cayman Islands, recalling the events that have shaped their history and made them what they are, and acknowledging their distinct history, culture and Christian heritage and its enduring influence and contribution in shaping the spiritual, moral and social values that have guided their development and brought peace, prosperity and stability to those islands, through the vision, forbearance, and leadership of their people, who are loyal to Her Majesty the Queen;

Affirm their intention to be—
• A God-fearing country based on traditional Christian values, tolerant of other religions and beliefs.
• A country with open, responsible and accountable government, that includes a working partnership with the private sector and continuing beneficial ties with the United Kingdom.
• A country in which religion finds its expression in moral living and social justice.
• A caring community based on mutual respect for all individuals and their basic human rights.
• A country committed to the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.
• A community that practices honest and open dialogue to ensure mutual understanding and social harmony.
• A safe, secure and law-abiding community.
• A country that is free from crime and drug abuse.
• A country with an education system that identifies and develops on a continuing basis the abilities of each person, allowing them to reach their full potential and productivity.
• A community that encourages and prepares young people to assume leadership roles.
• A country that provides a comprehensive healthcare system.
• A community protective of traditional Caymanian heritage and the family unit.
• A country that honors the sacrifice of its seafaring men who left the shores of the Islands to enhance the quality of life of their people, and in doing so established themselves amongst the finest within the global maritime community of that time and through their remittances, endeavors and experiences built the foundations of the Cayman Islands’ modern economy.
• A country that honors and acknowledges the important contribution of Caymanian women who during the absence of the seafaring men of the Islands managed the affairs of their homes, businesses and communities and passed on the values and traditions of the Islands’ people.
• A country with a vibrant diversified economy, which provides full employment.
• A country that makes optimal use of modern technology.
• A country that manages growth and maintains prosperity, while protecting its social and natural environment.
• A country that respects, protects and defends its environment and natural resources as the basis of its existence.
• A country that fosters the highest standards of integrity in the dealings of the private and public sectors.
• A country with an immigration system that protects Caymanians, gives security to long-term residents and welcomes legitimate visitors and workers.
• A country that plays its full part in the region and in the international community.

Now, therefore, the following provisions shall have effect as the Constitution of the Cayman Islands.

For more information on the Cayman Islands existing laws, Constitution and Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibility, visit:
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1379/contents/made

and https://cnslibrary.com/cayman-islands-constitution/

Cayman Islands Constitution
Cayman Islands Constitution

Even though Monday’s (July 1st 2019) Constitution Day is uniquely Caymanian, in such a multi-cultural territory as ours- were residents hail from all over the world- our holiday coincides very closely with many other countries like America’s Independence Day, Canada Day, St. Maarten Emancipation, Bahamas Independence Day and even France’s Bastille Day.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

4 July 2019

We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation.

However, did you know that July 4, 1776 wasn’t the day that the actual Continental Congress decided to declare independence. Apparently they did that on July 2, 1776. Wow! I am learning every day.

On July 4th, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Though the vote for their actual independence took place on July 2nd, from then on the 4th day became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American independence

Statue Of Liberty Infront Of American Flag With Fireworks

Now Independence Day is annually celebrated on July 4 and is often known as “the Fourth of July”. It is the anniversary of the publication of the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776. Patriotic displays and family events are organized throughout the United States.

CANADA

18-007-PAR---SE-Canada-Day---generic-website-header

Another wonderful place to explore and know about is Canada.

Canada’s national holiday is celebrated on July 1. If it falls on a Sunday, it is moved to July 2, except in Nova Scotia and in Newfoundland and Labrador. All provincial governments observe this day. Many organizations, businesses and stores are closed, although some book stores, pharmacies and gas stations may be open. Post offices are closed. As Canada Day falls in the Canadian summer holiday period, all schools are closed.

Canadians across the country and around the world show their pride in their history, culture and achievements. It’s been a day of celebration, where many festivities are held across the country, since 1868.

Also, each year, through the Canada Day Challenge, young people aged 8 to 18 are invited to express their creativity through arts on what Canada means to them.

Flag_of_Canada_Pantone

On July 1, 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain and a federation of four provinces: Nova Scotia; New Brunswick; Ontario; and Quebec. The anniversary of this date was called Dominion Day until 1982. Since 1983, July 1 has been officially known as Canada Day.

FRANCE

https://www.infoplease.com/calendar-holidays/major-holidays/bastille-day

The French National Day is the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a turning point of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération which celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790. Celebrations are held throughout France.

ST. MAARTEN

sintmaarten flag

Now right here within the beautiful Caribbean Sea we can explore the lovely Island of St. Maarten.

St. Maarten Emancipation Day is annually observed on July 1. This holiday celebrates the day, when the Netherlands abolished slavery on the island in 1863.

The island of St Maarten is administered by France (the major part) and the Netherlands.

Here’s a little history; the first border on the island was set by the Treaty of Concorida in 1648, however, during the next two centuries the border was changed sixteen times. St Maarten was a good place for cultivation of cotton, tobacco and sugar cane, that led to the lack of working labor and the beginning of the era of slavery.

France and the Netherlands imported a massive number of slaves to work on the plantations.
Slaves were subjected to cruel treatment, that is why they often staged rebellions. Due to the overwhelming number of the slaves, the rebellions were impossible to ignore. France abolished slavery on its part of the island in 1848. The Dutch followed the suit 15 years later and abolishment took place on July 1, 1863.

Abolishment of slavery is a very important event in the history of St Maarten.

Celebration of Emancipation Day usually begins with a church service, followed by the ceremony of wreath laying to the monuments of the fighters for freedom.

BAHAMAS

Flag_of_the_Bahamas

Let’s not forget the fabulous countries of the Bahamas. It is officially called the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and consist of more than 700 islands. Wow!

Bahamas Independence Day is on the 10th July. This holiday commemorates the day when The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, retaining the British Monarch, then and currently Queen Elizabeth II, as its Head Of State.

The Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas (following the United States and Canada), with an economy based on Tourism and Finance.

For more information visit: https://www.bahamas.com/event/bahamas-independence-day-holiday

The Queen’s Birthday in the Cayman Islands

Queen Elizabeth II was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926, in London, to Prince Albert, Duke of York (later known as King George VI), and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947, became queen on February 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953.

She officially became Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Elizabeth II, 2007.Chris Jackson/Getty Images

She is the mother of Prince Charles, heir to the throne, as well as the grandmother of princes William and Harry. As the longest-serving monarch in British history, she has tried to make her reign more modern and sensitive to a changing public while maintaining traditions associated with the crown.

History states that at the time of her accession to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II, the public did not know anything about the human being behind the royal façade-and could not, due to the tradition of maintaining the Monarch and the Monarchy apart from all others.

Only her Family and Palace courtiers, as well as a select group of dear friends, were aware of all the wonderful qualities of the young woman who was now Queen.

Even though her official birthday is on 21st April 1926, within the Cayman Islands the Queen’s birthday is a holiday and is usually celebrated on the Monday after the Saturday in June that is designated as the official holiday observance in the United Kingdom.
Generally, it is the second Saturday in June every year. This year it will be on the 10th June 2019.

To celebrate the day there will be a parade in the capital, George Town, followed by a garden reception.

Like the UK, the June birthday of the Queen is a time to give out birthday honors to those who have made a notable contribution to the Cayman Islands.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and President Donald Trump

Queen Elizabeth II officially welcomes President Donald Trump

According to ETonline, President Donald Trump’s visit to the U.K. began with a state dinner at Buckingham Palace on Monday, where he dined with Queen Elizabeth II in the opulent banquet hall.

The American national anthem was played and Mr Trump was invited to inspect the guard of honor
Getty Images

The American guest of honor was introduced by a toast from the 93-year-old monarch, who welcomed him graciously and expressed the importance of the bond between the U.S. and the U.K. and their history together.

The queen also stressed the importance of a global mindset and the value of relying on allies and international friends when it comes to sustaining a nation’s health and maintaining its standing in the world.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump (right) and Queen Elizabeth II walk in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth also showed the Trumps the royal gift collection — a room filled with artifacts.

During his speech at Buckingham Palace on Monday night, President Trump remembered D-Day and commended Queen Elizabeth II for her service during World War II.

The anniversary of the largest war invasion in history is coming up on June 6, and while many Americans have been taught about WWII, few were likely aware of the British monarch’s military service during it.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/75th-anniversary-d-day

The queen is a trained mechanic and worked for the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during the war. She also learned how to fix machinery and drive a military truck. 

President Donald Trump praised the “eternal friendship” between the UK and US at the state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen said the countries were celebrating an alliance:

“which had ensured the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades”.

Dominic Lipinski- WPA Pool/Getty Images

Mr Trump ended his speech with a toast to:

“the eternal friendship of our people, the vitality of our nations and to the long-cherished and truly remarkable reign of Her Majesty the Queen”.

The Queen praised the two countries’ role in creating an assembly of international institutions that would ensure

“the horrors of conflict would never be repeated”.

Duties of a Sovereign

During her address to the opening session of the 1999 biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM), held on November 12 in Durban, South Africa, Queen Elizabeth II recalls vividly:

“it was in Kenya that word reached me of the death of my father, and the responsibilities I then assumed as Queen and as Head of the Commonwealth in 1952.”

In the summer of 1952, she moved into Buckingham Palace where she undertook the routine duties of the sovereign and carried out her first state opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952. Her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey the following year on June 2, 1953.

Beginning in November 1953 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh made a six-month round-the-world tour of the Commonwealth, which included the first visit to Australia and New Zealand by a reigning British monarch. In 1957, after state visits to various European nations, she and the Duke visited Canada and the United States.

In 1961 she made the first royal British tour of the Indian subcontinent in 50 years, and she was also the first reigning British Monarch to visit South America (in 1968) and the Persian Gulf countries (in 1979).

During her “Silver Jubilee” in 1977, she presided at a London banquet attended by the leaders of the 36 members of the Commonwealth, traveled all over Britain and Northern Ireland, and toured overseas in the South Pacific and Australia, in Canada, and in the Caribbean.

Public Persona

The Queen’s public persona has been described vividly in The Monarchy, An Oral Biography of Elizabeth II by Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, by many who have had the privilege of working with her or the honor of meeting her.

Bishop Michael Mann has been reported as saying that she has the sincere belief that she is consecrated to her post.

While Bryan Forbes has said she is a rather beautiful woman with a translucent sort of, almost porcelain, wonderful skin, and wonderful eyes. As a young girl, when she was crowned, she was exceedingly beautiful.

Sir Edward Dillion Lott du Cann, KBE, PC, minister of state, Board of Trade, 1963-64; former chairman, and part of the Conservative Party stated passionately that she is a performer who knows her role, has great experience in it, and realizes that she must perform.

I rather liked that statement as I felt it represented my previous article very well called Performances of Understanding which deals with real life events and theories.

https://teneishajohnson.wixsite.com/dream/performances-of-understanding

The Queen has become increasingly aware of the modern role of the Monarchy, allowing, for example, the televising of the royal family’s domestic life in 1970 and condoning the formal dissolution of her sister’s marriage in 1978.

In the 1990s, however, the royal family faced a number of challenges. In 1992, Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, separated, as did Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.

Unfortunately, Princess Anne also divorced, and a fire gutted the royal residence of Windsor Castle.

According to Britannica.com, In 2002 Elizabeth celebrated her 50th year on the throne. As part of her “Golden Jubilee,” events were held throughout the Commonwealth, including several days of festivities in London.

In April 2011 Elizabeth led the family in celebrating the wedding of Prince William of Wales-the elder son of Charles and Diana to Catherine Middleton.

Elizabeth II (right) and Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, visiting Leicester, England, at the start of the queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the United Kingdom, 2012.Andy Rain—EPA/Landov
The Duchess of Cambridge was escorted into the banquet by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

The following month of May, she surpassed George III to become the second longest-reigning monarch in British history, behind Queen Victoria.

Also, in May, Elizabeth made a historic trip to Ireland, becoming both the first British monarch to visit the Irish republic and the first to set foot in Ireland since 1911.

In 2012 Elizabeth celebrated her “Diamond Jubilee,” marking 60 years on the throne. On September 9, 2015, she then surpassed Queen Victoria’s record reign of 63 years and 216 days.

The Institution of the Monarchy

The institution of the monarchy has surely been affected by sweeping changes in Britain over the past half- century, including successive waves of immigration; leveling of the social and economic playing fields; the declining influence of the established Church; progress in human rights-particularly women, racial minorities, and homosexuals; the waning regard for established institutions; the end of the Cold War and the Technological Revolution.

Elizabeth, the Queen however, is known to favor simplicity in court life and is also known to take a serious and informed interest in government business, aside from the traditional and ceremonial duties.

Privately, she has become a keen horsewoman. She keeps racehorses and frequently attends races and is periodically seen visiting the Kentucky stud farms in the United States.

Her financial and property holdings have made her one of the world’s richest women.

The banquet was held in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace

It’s all about Eve, Her Lover and Her Lord

As a good Producer/Director, you’ve got to keep track of all the mistakes made during dress rehearsal.

Sometimes they pile up faster than leaves falling from a tree in autumn, but you got to keep track of them, study them, reflect on your shortcomings, identify what went wrong and why.

In the same way, we must study our mistakes in life and reflect on our motives from the past and identify what is in our power to change and let go of those things that are not.

Turn your burdens over to the Lord so your vision can become clearer.

http://silhouette.ky/index.html

Focus on what you have control over, the areas that you can improve with some hard work, disciplined attention, and consistent practice.

Attend to the simple details within your grasp as best as you can and leave the rest to your ultimate Director.

He delights in transforming even the worst tragedy into the happy ending of a romance!

In the history of storytelling and leading ladies, Eve’s story sets the standard for one of the most tragic scenes.

She is the first woman to have it all, then lose it all. Can you relate to such a steep path through the hills and valleys of your faith?

To all my Walkers

Take a walk with me- Imagine the glorious splendor of a gentle silver rain trickling down on a fertile earth, natures very own spa, watering the myriad of colorful blossoms.

Pink and red, yellow and blue, orange and white. Every color of the rainbow!

What’s your flavor? Taste the Rainbow! God’s Covenant Promise https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/05/24/whats-your-flavor-taste-the-rainbow-gods-covenant-promise-2/

Picture it with me! Vibrant rosebushes are swaying in their yellow-green dresses. Ok everbody, let’s do the 1-2 step! Lol!

A vivid sapphire sky kisses the horizon, as a brilliant sun bathes the faces of the first man and the first woman with an amber-yellow glow.

Isn’t love a beautiful thing?

Their union is supernaturally blessed and they know it! Predestined and orchestrated to embody the very Image of God.

It is very obvious that womanhood was not an afterthought with God, and it was through the creation of both male and female that God has offered us His fullest self-revelation.

If for some reason your imagination can not fathom the qualities of a perfect man or woman, if you reflect on who God is, we all carry His glory in ourselves individually and most of the time it can be seen in us. Lol!

Self-Image

Unfortunately, in today’s society the image of God often bears virtually no resemblance to our own self-image, because many of us walk around suffering from a low self-image. What’s up with that?

But how can our self-image be low when we contemplate the image of God in which we were created to reflect?

Please bear in mind your self-esteem shouldn’t be solely based on ego-boosting gratification that comes from awards, promotions, bonuses, money, status, cars, homes, land, who’s your partner or even new clothes.

Although realistically these things DO help.

I’d like to think those things are the temporary “uppers” of the “It’s all about you” generation.

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/caribbean/cayman/index.html

They are not what builds a healthy self-image.

I feel best about myself not when I am wearing a new outfit or dating someone new who is sizzling hot, but when I have selflessly reached out to an organization or an individual in need with no thought for reward -or of self.

Billionaire industrialist Damian Hale (Ben Kingsley) is master of his universe, until he encounters a foe that he can’t defeat: cancer. His only hope is a radical medical procedure called “shedding,” in which his consciousness is transferred to a healthy body. After the procedure, Damian, now called Edward (Ryan Reynolds), starts a new life in New Orleans, but he’s plagued by disturbing images. When he delves into Edward’s mysterious origin, he learns that some will kill to keep it secret.

It is only when my self is submerged or decreased that God’s image can increase and begins to shine forth.

Only then do I truly feel I have a healthy self-image that truly reflects God’s image.

Walkers lets continue…

So, let’s continue our walk together in this classic biblical story.

As the lovely couple basked in the loving presence of their Parent (The Lord God), like children discovering new toys on their birthday under the caring and watchful eyes of their mother.

We can just imagine a timeless moment, ethereal, limitless in its innocence and depth of beauty.

According to Genesis 1:28, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/09/12/testamentary-capacity-holographic-wills-and-living-trusts-vs-wills/

Genesis 2:8-9, Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed.

And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17. And the Lord God commanded the man,

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Now we must remember that Satan is very crafty and clever. His strategy is always to confuse reality and to make evil seem good.

He knows Eve is living in all the splendor of Eden, with all her needs met. So, the question is, how do you get at someone who is happy with being good and living righteous?

How do you get at someone who is trying to live right and do right?

The serpent had a plan. He approaches Eve with a theological discussion about God.

He correctly assumes that it is a safe subject, since he already knew she liked talking about God.

How many times have you found yourself standing in front of the tree that grows the forbidden fruit with your name on it?

You had good intentions but found yourself driving past an old flames apartment, walking past a liquor store, browsing the internet for the latest porn videos etc.

You had good intentions but you found yourself caught up in a swirling whirlwind of intense hypnotic memories from your past.

You ached for the penetrating feeling again, the illusion of intimacy and the need to communicate and connect.

The fruit looks so good dangling there right in front of you and would taste so sweet. Sweeter than the world’s best ice-cream and all its flavors!

You’re tired, your hungry, your longing for something that you haven’t found elsewhere. And along comes a snake.

He may be dressed in an Armani suit or she may be slithering along in a pair of six-inch heels and tight short red dress.

Snakes show up next to fruit that’s both forbidden and sometimes very good-looking.

They provide the voice urging you, convincing you, very subtly to give in to your temptations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDfTwu2CgDY

Inside many of us is the internal pressure that we are not good enough until we have attained the right clothes, man, house, job, or any other trappings that represent to the world that we are successful.

Speaking of internal pressures, our chosen lifestyle can increase or decrease our health.

According to many studies genetic components explain why some people have more difficulty with drug addiction or alcohol abuse.

Certainly, our genes, hormones, and other factors influence behavior. But apparently such influences, genetic or otherwise, can only create predispositions or tendencies.

“The devil made me do it”

becomes

“My genetics made me do it.”

Our genes may be God-given, but remember so is free will.

According to Dan Millman, the ego/self/personality is comprised of numerous tendencies.

He said, we tend to be lazy or to overwork; we tend to let our emotions drive our behavior; we tend to indulge or to deny ourselves; we tend to get attached to things, to lose perspective, to be overly serious or overly jealous.

We tend to be passive or aggressive, lackadaisical, or obsessive; to act without thinking or to think without acting; to be self-centered, defensive, and sometimes resentful.

We can’t erase our tendencies, but we can modify our behavior. Self-mastery entails transcending our tendencies and eccentricities, whatever they may be.

So, whether we tend to behave like a puritan or hedonist, a social butterfly or lone wolf – or to crave alcohol, or nicotine or to act aggressively- we can still live and act on purpose.

Remember who you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.

Be prepared before the Day after Tomorrow: Hurricanes,Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Floods

The Cayman Islands is susceptible to a number of natural disasters. Many of these including hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.

With the beginning of hurricane season fast approaching, it is especially important that residents are educated and prepared. Having foresight and planning ahead can save your life and the lives of others.

https://caribbeannewsservice.com/now/brace-for-slightly-below-normal-activity-2019-hurricane-season/

Hurricane season starts 1 June to the 30 November.

http://caymaniancompass.cay.newsmemory.com/?special=Hurricane+Guide

National Hurricane Plan

The Cayman Islands plans to test its National Hurricane Plan this week with an exercise dubbed ‘Hurricane Kali’.

The annual hurricane exercise is scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday, when all agencies involved in responding to hurricanes will test their response and recovery processes.

‘Hurricane Kali’ is a tabletop exercise focusing on the response and recovery activities following an ‘All Clear’.

More information on improving preparedness and signing up with a CERT Team or as a shelter volunteer is available at visit www.caymanprepared.ky.

Population and Resource Limitations

Fear of the voracious appetite of a fast-growing human population lies at the heart of many worries about the environment. The following editorial from the world’s leading scientific journal states:


“The humans were so few, and the land so vast, that previous insults to mother nature could be quickly absorbed without any serious consequences. That is no longer true.”


Approximately half of the leading scientist’s concerns have to do with the behavior of the human population, and the other half involves the sources of pollution and other environmental problems. See my previous article:

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/let-s-talk-about-trash-baby

With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the birth control movement and new technological advancements, families now have the opportunity, capability and choice of managing their own resources and birth rates.

There is no doubt that as humans spread around the globe, they will displace trees, wolves, bears and even lakes to make way for farms, highways, cities and various human settlements.

However, would you say that economic growth and industrialization are the road to environmental ruin?

Economics

According to 18th Edition of Economics by Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, no such simple conclusion can be reached from the historical records.

They state that one important finding is that pollution trends tend to follow an inverse u-shape curve across different stages of economic development.

Inverse U-Shaped Economic Curve

Apparently the rising part of the curve occurs because urbanization, accompanied by the growth of highly polluting industries often replaces agriculture in the earliest stages of development.

For more on what I’ve learnt on Agriculture see my previous link:

https://teneishajohnsondream.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/agriculture-2/

However, here is the best part! As incomes rise, countries tend to invest in pollution abatement and their economic structures evolve towards services and away from heavy industry, reducing pollution. This would explain the inverse u-shape pollution curve.

Important Natural-Resources Economics

Important natural resources include the land, water and our precious atmosphere.

The land gives us food and wine from fertile soils, as well as oil and other minerals from the earth.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunamis/

Our waters gives us fish, recreational activities and a remarkable and efficient medium for transportation.

Our precious atmosphere yields breathable air, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and flying space for not only birds but all of mankind’s various airplanes.

Our natural resources are important and deserve to be governed wisely and protected.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunamis/

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow! 

James 4:13-17 New King James Version (NKJV) 

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Heavenly Wisdom vs. Demonic Wisdom

James 3:13-14 New King James Version (NKJV) 

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

Why you may ask? Because of the Untamable Tongue 

James 3:1-12 New International Version (NIV)

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Back to Heavenly Wisdom vs. Demonic Wisdom

Demonic Wisdom (James 3:15-16)

15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Heavenly Wisdom (James 3:17-18) 

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

The Spirit of Truth vs. The Spirit of Error

1 John 4 New King James Version (NKJV)

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

What’s your flavor? Taste the Rainbow! God’s Covenant Promise

According to the Dewey Color System, if you like yellow and orange, your first thoughts are about how to get things done.

Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang embark on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy named Forky. The adventurous journey turns into an unexpected reunion as Woody’s slight detour leads him to his long-lost friend Bo Peep. As Woody and Bo discuss the old days, they soon start to realize that they’re worlds apart when it comes to what they want from life as a toy.

By establishing a systematic approach, you can figure anything out. Your realism makes others see you as technical and efficient. You see yourself as someone who makes the most of his or her resources and gets results.

You embody the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” You are an innovator, far ahead of your time. This is your great talent! You have the ability to create something from nothing by reinventing the resources around you.

When you put your mind to something, new ideas and possibilities arrive with a bang! Use your abilities to encourage people as you are also a great motivator and construct new things as you are also an inventor and great at producing new products.

https://teneishajohnsondream.wixsite.com/dreamcreator/cages-and-curses-wild-thoughts-figh

By pulling together the resources and talents around you- your know-how is unparalleled! Global competition, rapid-fire changes, increase customer demands, mergers, shrinking profit margins, downsizing, bankruptcies, insider stock trading scandals, and an unstable economy all contribute to the uneasy situations we experience in the world of business today.

Customer loyalty has been transferred to competitors offering better quality and faster delivery of products and services. Profits decline as costs increase and PRICE WATERs down, forcing you to be more cautious with your Sovereign Investments.

Happy Father’s Day- Honoring Father’s and Fatherhood

Father’s Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. It will be celebrated on the 16th June 2019

Father’s Day is also celebrated in Burscough, Lancashire, North West of England

The idea for Father’s Day originated in the USA and has been officially celebrated there on the third Sunday in June since 1966.

The exact origins of what we now know as Father’s Day are disputed, though we do know the movement for a day which celebrated fatherhood began roughly 100 years ago.

While in the UK fathers can expect, at best, a breakfast in bed and handmade card and, at worst, the day to be completely ignored, elsewhere the festival is done a little differently.

In Germany it is called Vatertag (Father’s Day) but is also sometimes known as Männertag (or men’s day).

In China, Father’s Day used to be celebrated on 8 August as the Chinese for eight is “ba”, while a colloquial word for father is “ba-ba” – so the eighth day of the eighth month sounds similar to “daddy”.

The day has since been moved to the third Sunday of June, in line with the UK and US.

The Prayer of Jabez

The prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles) is not a “quick fix”, a magical lamp with a genie or a magic wand. It’s not a few words that you memorize and just recite every day.

It is not a prayer that elevates you above your competition, gives you an unfair advantage or sets you on the path to prosperity.

No, the prayer is specifically for God to look upon you favorably with blessings as He sees fit. When you pray Jabez’s prayer, you’re asking God to bless you, to expand your territories, to guide and to protect you from evil.

The Lord changes everything based on the intent of your prayer. Jabez’s intent was focused on his desire to be used by God and was void of selfishness. His prayer was not asking God to show favoritism, partiality or take blessings from someone and give them to him. An act becomes selfish when someone is deprived or hurt by it.

Prophecy is a powerful gift to be handled very carefully. We can easily do harm if we have either got incorrect revelation for somebody, or have given them correct revelation but in an inappropriate way.

If we seek to exercise the gift of prophecy with anything in our hearts other than love for the Lord and the person or people we may be speaking to, it is all too easy for things to go wrong.

For those reasons, I believe anyone wanting to grow in the gift of prophecy, aught to be hungry for words that will strengthen, comfort and encourage as their first priority.

It is also vital that anyone exercising the gift of prophecy does so with a submissive heart. Prophecies should always be weighed and tested and confirmed by several different sources.

Most recently I located verses in the bible which once again, demonstrates the importance of understanding from a biblical perspective:

1 Corinthians 14:13-25

13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.

16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

19 But in the church, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

21 In the Law it is written: “ “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgement by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So, they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

https://teneishajohnsonhasadream.home.blog/2019/09/12/testamentary-capacity-holographic-wills-and-living-trusts-vs-wills/

The Bible has always been and I strongly believe, will always be the best-seller year after year until the end of time and is peppered with many prophecies. In our fallen and double-minded world, we can either be encouraged or terrified by prophecy.

In 2 Peter 1:19 of the New International Version (NIV) it states, 

“19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shinning in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”.

And it continues to solidify verse 19 in verses 20 and 21 by saying the following:

“20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”.

In the Old Testament there are many stories of the prophets of Israel. One story in particular features the Priest Ezekiel who was among the Judeans that Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon in 597 BC.

Five years into their exile, God called Ezekiel to go to Israel and “speak my words to them” or prophesy. The Priest Ezekiel often spoke his messages by composing exceptionally polished poetic oracles which he would either speak or perhaps sing to the public.

He was also known to be a very talented and creative individual and told many of his stories with symbolic meanings, symbolic actions and often described and demonstrated his extraordinary visions that he had received to the public using his various abilities.

It’s interesting to note however in Ezekiel Chapter 2 verses 14, that when he was called to be a prophet, he wasn’t exactly jumping with joy. It says he went on his mission in bitterness and anger.

I believe there are still true prophets among us today, however we need to be cautious of people- even those inside the Church, who astonish us with their exploits.

Astonishment or amazement is not enough. I sincerely believe it would be wise for us as believers to observe their lives and determine if they have truly been transformed.

Many people agree that we should be able to see conviction, repentance, love and unity taken place within their lives. I strongly believe that people can be very susceptible or naïve when they have never experienced the power of the Lord. When supernatural things take place that they don’t understand or can not explain, they may call it divine or of God. But watch out!

Just because a person believes in Christ does not automatically qualify him or her to receive everything that is divine. I believe spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy is very much needed in the church today, but many who are ignorant regarding how God choses to deliver the Spirit, may feel that they can imitate the Spirit. They may even believe it’s a gift that can be purchased.

However, the bible said that for every supernatural gift that comes from God, satan has made a substitute. Ancient diviners or psychics have foretold events by countless methods but the Priest Ezekiel has warned us against this in the entire book of Ezekiel Chapter 13.

Ezekiel Chapter 13:1-23

It reads as follows:

“ 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imaginations: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ 3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!

4 Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. 5 You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6 Their visions are false and their divination a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.

7 Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The Lord declares”, though I have not spoken?

8 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words, and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

10 “Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with white-wash, 11 Therefore, tell those who cover it with white-wash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth.

12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the white-wash you covered it with?”

13 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. 14 I will tear down the wall you have covered with white-wash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord.

15 So, I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16 Those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

17 “Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18 And say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own?

19 You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have sparred those who should not live.

20 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. 21 I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

22 Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, 23 Therefore, you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord”.

Wow! That’s some serious revelations right there!

However, as I stated previously, the Apostle Peter calls prophecy a “light that shines in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). I also believe that even though their may be different interpretations of prophetic theories, some things are still held in common by all legitimate people involved:

1 Jesus Christ, Son of God, is Savior and Lord

2 The Bible is the Word of God

3 Jesus Christ is coming back again (Titus 2:13, 1 Peter 1:3 and 3:15, John 3:2-3 etc.)

I still strongly believe that we must be willing to submit what we have heard from the Lord in good faith as we speak or shared to others around us, and especially to our leaders.

Doing it this way, preserves “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace”.